Police arrested a record 6,832 people for marijuana-related cases in 2025, with 70% of them under the age of 29 and increasingly accessing the drug through social media, National Police Agency data showed.

The NPA data, released on Thursday, showed the figure more than doubled from 2017, when it was 3,008. Among the 6,800-plus people, 1,373 were 19 years old and younger while 3,633 were in their 20s.

“Given the increasingly serious spread of cannabis usage among young people, we will promote public awareness campaigns targeting the younger generation and strengthen measures to eliminate illegal and harmful information on the internet,” said NPA Commissioner-General Yoshinobu Kusunoki on Thursday.